


Of Humble Beginnings

by Preelikeswriting



Category: RWBY
Genre: ASL, Gen, More Characters from the show to show up as the story progresses, Murder, Neo doing illegal stuff, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Panic Attacks, Roman Torchwick doing illegal stuff, mafia, mute!Neo
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-10-30
Updated: 2017-03-03
Packaged: 2018-08-27 21:16:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 7,245
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8417011
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Preelikeswriting/pseuds/Preelikeswriting
Summary: Roman had dreamed of power from an eairly age, the chance to rise up from the slums of his backwater town. Now he was finally being given a chance to accomplish that.-----------------------------------------Neo was a survivor, and had been her whole life. Now for the first time however she was getting the chance for something more. Torchwick/Neo friendship origin story.On Hiatus, with plans for me to revamp it later.





	1. Criminal meet better criminal

**Author's Note:**

> Hello beautiful people, my name is Pree and this is my very first multi chapter story. A bit daunting of a task, so any comments, advice, or any other help you want to offer is greatly appreciated. 
> 
> No, I don't Own RWBY or any of its amazing characters and thank you to Rooster Teeth for letting us play around in your world for a bit.

"Do not go by my humble beginnings. Be wary of my enormous vision." -Manoj Arora 

He cupped his hands around the end of the cigarette as he lit it with a click from his battered lighter. Cold rain soaked through his jacket leaving him wet and in a none too good mood. This settlement just outside of Vale, Roman decided, was probably the single most miserable place he had ever been. The days were nothing but grey sky's, rude people, and ungodly cold rain. However, the crime rate was high, and for him, that was all he needed.

The Town where he had grownup had been filled to the brim with criminals and lowlifes. Saying he had been influenced by his upbringing was a major understatement. Watching people like him who with nothing, claw their way up into power had fascinated him, and ever since he could remember he wanted that. Wanted to rise up, to exists somewhere above the lowest class that he had been born into. If the way to achieving that went outside what was strictly legal, then so be it. He had everything to gain and nothing to loose.  
The 16 year old wove his way along the sidewalks past dead eyed residents. He was perhaps half a block away from the shoddy inn he had been sleeping at for the past week, when he was forced to jump into an alleyway to avoid being drenched in the spray of a car passing by. Cursing he stumbled on the strangely uneven ground before falling wrong on the harsh cobblestone. He lay for a second on his back cursing the world and all the people in it, and wondering why the universe hated him so much.

"I have had a day." He muttered as he pushed himself to his feet. He wiped his hands off on his tight black jeans which, he realized with another sigh, were going to be a real bitch to take off later with how soaked they were. He flicked his now soggy cigarette away and made to step back out on to the street. 

He froze. 

He hadn't fallen because of uneven groundlike he had originally assumed, he had fallen because he had stepped on the body of a little girl. A little girl who was now staring up at him with wide entirely white terrified eyes. 

She was soaking wet and couldn't have weighed more then 90 pounds even in her current half drowned state. Faded grey blonde hair hung in ropes around her face and her lips were blue with cold. The pale dress she was wearing was almost see through and her feet were bare. 

"Hey are you alright?" Roman said quietly as he squatted down to her level and offered her a hand. A self proclaimed asshole he may be, but he wasn't heartless. She reached out to him but, instead of taking his hand the small girl grinned wickedly her eyes now bright and calico in color, and shoved him hard. Roman lost his balance with a cry of surprise, his head cracking down on the stone ground. His head spinning he could only watch as the blonde, whose weak appearance rolled off her like a wave, riffled through his pockets with practiced ease and bolted out onto the street. 

With his wallet. 

"Fuck." He hissed as stumbled his way to his feet and broke into a run after the thief. 

She wove in and out of the crowd. Her small statue making her almost impossible to spot. This paired with her strange ability to change her appearance at will, probably her semblance he figured, (God he hated semblances) made keeping her in view tricky. A useful talent for a thief he reflected. 

So invested in his chase, Roman found himself forgetting one of the most important rules he knew. Aways keep an eye on your surroundings. Because, while he had been chasing the girl, he had failed to see her friends, her much much larger friends, where boxing him in. In fact poor Roman didn't even notice them until he was flat on his back in the pouring rain for the third time that day, starring into the faces of possibly the most cliché thugs ever.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Roman meets the man in charge (sort of), and Neo reflects on the past.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't own the charecters

"You my friends, have got to be the most cliché thugs ever." Roman said as the thugs dragged him across the street.    
  
He was rather unceremoniously deposited next to a pillar in one of the many decrepit building lining the street and tied his arms behind his back. Quickly realizing those ropes weren't budging anytime soon, years of ingrained street smarts took over and he took a moment to observe his captors. The muscle heads he mentally nicknamed Thing One and Thing Two, had moved out from behind him, and Thing One had made to go stand by the door, while Thing Two had stepped outside. His, now formally blonde, thief while still having kept her rather unimpressive stature, had ditched the pale sickly look for some sort of heterochromic get up. Going so far as to split the colorization not only in her clothes but, in her hair and eyes as well. Face unnaturally blank, she seemed to be waiting for something. That alone was enough to put Roman on edge.    
  
Nearly a half an hour had passed and while logically he knew running his mouth wasn't going to help him in the least, and the bruises Thing One had given him anytime he had tried, seemed to agree with that sentiment. But what could he say? He was a nervous rambler. Always had been. If fact even now Roman began to feel the faint itch driving him to open his mouth and start making snide comments again. The muscle heads alone gave him such good material. He bit his tongue however, when Thing Two returned escorting a lanky well dressed man.    
  
Roman tensed immediately recognizing the danger for what it was. Years of of living among men like this had heightened his ability to detect the aura of darkness that seemed to cling to his type. Despite his relaxed appearance and his youth, The man held himself in the way that only comes with having a certain degree of power. He gulped quietly knowing that what happened in the next few minutes could decide whether or not he left this building alive.    
  
"What seems to be the problem gentlemen?" The man asked his eyes resting on each of them in turn, almost parodying a stern father lecturing his children.   
  
"He caused a fuss tryin' ter run dahn the girl over a pinched wallet."    
Thing One said through a thick accent.    
  
"would 'ave let 'im go wiv a few bruises, right, but the girl said we should keep 'im till yer got 'ere."   
Thing Two finished out sporting the same accent as his counterpart.    
  
_ Keep him? _ Roman didn't understand any of this. Not only had he yet to hear the girl speak, much less give an order, but he couldn't think of any possible reason she would have to keep him.   
  
"Did she now?" The boss replied his reaction overly large like he was playing to an audience. He glanced over at where the silent thief sat watching them all with casual disinterest. Upon noticing the man's eyes on her she gave a quick nod and proceeded to bring her right hand up in a gun like shape above her lips. She then brought her her hand down in a fist shape in front of her chest and used her left hand to push it upwards. The man nodded with understanding, though the meaning of the gesture was lost on Roman.    
  
"It seems we find ourselves in the presence of another criminal. Fancy that." The man said approaching Roman with a grin he found far to unhinged looking for comfort. He had to fight the urge to pull away and make himself as small as possible.     
  
_ had he stolen from them? Did they think he was encroaching on their territory?  Who were these people? How did they even know about him?  _ Romans thoughts flew through his head at a dizzying speed as he tried to make sense of what was happening and keep himself from panicking outright as the man drew neared.

 

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Neo watched the teenager from her perch silent as always, not quite sure what to make of him. He stood nearly a foot and a half taller than her but they shared a similar willowy build. His ridiculously vibrant hair had been what had caught her eye the first time she saw him, nearly a week ago. She had watched from the shadows as he was roughly thrown from pub. Initially she had figured he was a student from one of the big schools around Vale, as plenty of them found their way to places like this town on long weekends and holidays looking to cause trouble far from the administrative eye and he looked about the age. This idea however, was quickly dashed as she watched him slip his hand skillfully in and out of the man’s pocket easily lifting the bouncers wallet. A wallet that she now had in her possession.

 

She focused back into the conversation when Gainsboro directed the eccentric underbosses attention towards her, the way he was looking at her clearly indicated he was expecting some sort of response. Taking a second to replay the conversation in her head, she signed her answer. Neo let out a silent sigh of relief when the man understood her. Despite being born mute, it hadn't been until recently that it had really become a problem for her. She didn't have family or friends that she had needed to speak too, much less to teach her how to communicate silently. She simply hadn't learned, but she was working on it. 

 

She had learned pretty quickly working under the East Faction that if she didn’t voice her opinions in some form or another, the others thought her to be an idiot. Her limited literacy didn't help her much in that department either. However, about a year before, things had started to change.

 

A smuggling business had moved into the East’s territory using a small port town as a location to transport drugs in from Vacuo. The East’s had tried to settle things peacefully, give them a few “gentle” nudges to show that the business had overstepped its bounds, needless to say it hadn't worked, and the Don had sent out a team to clean things up over at the port. The team was lead by the Capo Zaffre, who Neo had worked under at the time, and he invited her along to watch. At twelve, while far from her first time seeing death or even death on that scale, it was still an entirely new experience for her. She had stayed by Zaffre’s side the entire fight watching from the window of a warehouse overlooking the docks as the men used their weapons and semblances to tear each other apart. Afterwards she had accompanied Zaffre as he went down to inspect the carnage.    
  


It had happened so quickly she had hardly registered doing it. It was only after she was pulling her standard issue knife out of the smugglers neck that she processed it at all. He had lunged at her, or more likely Zaffre, knife drawn ready to avenge his dead friends, and she had acted on instinct. With the skills she had gained over all her years on her own, and with what she had learned as a member of the Faction, Neo killed him.

 

She could with perfect clarity, remember Zaffre’s appraising look, and how when she returned to her small apartment in the faction’s complex the next day, there was a red gift sitting on her bed waiting for her. Contained in it, a book on basic sign language, and an envelope holding orders for her to be trained for combat. The orders from the Don himself.

 

She again was pulled back the present as she heard the underbosses words, very reminiscent of what had been said to her at eleven.  “How would you like a job Kid?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A note on the sign language: The first sign means Bandit, referring to Roman being a criminal, and the second sign means help, and is Neo's way of suggesting he could help them, My personal sign language skills are fairly weak, so I will be checking most of it online to try and make it as accurate as possible. I apologize for any mistakes I may make.  
> Gainsboro (AKA Thing Two) is a shade of grey I’m trying to keep with the color naming rule for any OC’s that happen to pop up.  
> Zaffre is a shade of blue.  
> The East Faction that Neo is working for, is based around the hierarchy of the american mafia with a Don, underbosses, Capos, etc...


	3. The Price to Pay

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Still don't own anything

Neo watched the teen shift awkwardly rubbing his raw wrists as he sized them all up warily. His eyes locked on hers only briefly, but it was long enough for her to read the question in them. - _ Who are you? Whats happening?-  _ And in all honesty she wasn’t entirely sure how to answer either of those questions. Why had she done what she had? Boredom was that answer she settled on. That had to be it. She had been bored and wanted to see what would happen, and if the Faction got a half decent thief out of it? Well then so be it. Nothing more than that. She was shaken out of her thoughts as the boss snapped his fingers signaling that it was time for them to go.

“See you kid.” he shot over his shoulder to the ginger as they left the building. “OH! Right!" He said turning around. "What’s your name short-stack?"

“Torchwick.” the kid replied straightening up. “Roman Torchwick.”

“Vegas.” the boss said with grin. “Come along Neo, we have work to do.”

The heavy doors shut with a crash behind them and they made their way towards the waiting car. The chauffeur opened the back for them and they slid inside out of the smog. Vegas waited until they had made their way outside the city limits before saying what had clearly been on his mind since they had left the building.

“Never thought I would see the day you took an interest in something other than your who you get to stab next.” His tone was unusually subdued putting Neo on edge. She didn't like it when he got like this, he was too hard to read, to unpredictable for comfort.

She shrugged in response.

“Awe, come on kid don’t be like that! I’m just intrigued. What can I say? I think this might be the first real proof we have that you're not really a robot.” Some of the familiar joking was back in his tone, but there was still something buried under it. Something Neo knew better than to make angry.

_ “I was bored. Simple.”  _ She signed in response.

“Awe, are you trying to tell me the Factions little princess hasn’t actually broken out of her icy shell?” The false hurt in his voice made her want to hurl. Gods she hated him.

_ “Guess not.” _

 

_ \---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- _

 

A few days later Roman stood awkwardly rubbing the cuff of his new jacket between his fingers as he took a drag of his cigarette, still not use to the nicer material. He had yet to convince himself that the past week had been little more than a dream. That he really had managed to attract the attention of the East Faction with nothing more than a minor feat of theft. The Underboss, Vegas, as he had introduced himself, had told him later that the thief, Neo he remind himself, had seen him rob that bouncer when he had first gotten into town. He had told Roman that for Gods only know what reason she had taken an interest in him, and had mugged him for the simple reason that she wanted to see what he would do. Roman had found that to be more than a little unsettling. After telling Vegas as much, the man had simply shrugged his concerns off saying that the girl had always been a little odd.

He took another drag as he felt a presence appear at his side. Thing two, and yes Roman realized the man had a real name, gestured with his head for Roman to follow him inside the warehouse he had been standing outside. Entering, he glanced over at where his eccentric new boss stood animatedly haggling over a crate of weapons smuggled in from Menagerie with a couple of Faunas. He followed his hulking guide up a set of stairs onto the buildings catwalk.

“ The boss 'as almost finished up 'ere.” Thing two said to him, “he 'as someone 'e wants yer ter meet.”

Roman only nodded in response, eyes glued to the small figure seated up in the building's rafters. Neo watched the men below as they talked, relaxed despite the steadily rising volume of the men's voices flipping and catching a small knife with a practiced ease that easily rivaled if not surpassed the skill of the born thieves of his home town. Roman frowned unable to get a read on the girl.

“Hey,” Roman murmured in Thing Two’s direction. “What position is she? Neo I mean.”

The giant shrugged. “She's jest an unnerlin' officially, but th' bostes like her so thet gives her sway.”

Roman nodded. It would do him good to keep an eye on her. If was odd really, she had been the one to bring him into all of this and yet he knew nothing about her. Well, almost nothing now.

“Then we’ve reached an agreement?” Vegas’s loud voice echoed through the room drawing Romans attention.

“It appears we have.” replied the elder of the two Faunus as he shook Vegas’s hand. The two exchanged money and the pair left the building pockets a bit richer, leaving a happily smiling Vegas with his newly acquired weapons.

“Oi! Kid!” Vegas called up to him, “Come down here a sec would you?”

“Be right down!” Roman called in response as he hurried his way back down the catwalk stairs to where Vegas waited. “Yes sir?”

“Here,” Vegas said placing the grip of a silver gun from crate in his hand. “Take this.”

“Sir?” Roman questioned. While far from his first holding such a weapon he felt uneasy, like he was missing something important about this exchange.

“You ever shoot one of these before Kid? 

“Yes Sir.”

“Good.”

The warehouse doors opened with a loud creak. Roman turned his head towards the loud noise and saw Thing One enter into the room. But something about the picture was off, because he wasn’t alone. Dragged behind him was a struggling young woman crying out with frustration as her attempts to get free yielded no results. Thing One dropped her against a pillar and tied her arms back almost identically to the way Roman’s own had been not long ago.

Vegas handed him a full clip of ammo. “Shoot her.”

Roman froze. Killing was an unavoidable reality in his kind of life, even more now that he had a job with the East's. Still, he had managed so far to avoid it, and to do it like this...

“Sir?” He asked trying to hide the slight shake in his voice.

“Shoot the girl.”

That was another thing, it was like Vegas had flipped a switch. While Roman had no reservations that he was by any means a "good man", in the week he had spent with Vegas he had never sounded so cold, so completely indifferent, and it was terrifying. Vegas's voice held in it a promise that Roman didn't like, a promise of what would happen to him if he couldn't do what was asked of him. While Roman never claimed to boast any particular intellectual skill, he did however, care a great deal about self-preservation and that had gotten him far. So he did the only thing he could do. He took a shaky breath and brought the gun up slowly trying to drown out the pleading of the woman. Her eyes wide and terrified locked on his and he forced his face into an indifferent mask, set his feet and forced his hands to stop shaking. Taking a deep breath, he swallowed, and then he fired.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Vegas’s name is a reference to the color Vegas gold and his personality is kind of based on Dazai Osamu during the dark years from Bungou Stray Dogs. Which if you like mafia stories, has an insanely good mafia arc at the start of its second season


	4. Chapter 4

 

Roman pushed his way through the thin door into the bathroom, gasping. He grabbed the sink with white knuckles almost doubled over. He shook, his arms barely holding him up as he choked back the burn in his throat that threatened to make an appearance. His legs gave out and he slid down the wall desperately trying to draw a breath.  _ Hecouldntbreathhecouldntbreath.  _ He squeezed his eyes shut and shoved his fist into his mouth trying to stifle the sob that was building up. 

 

He had held it together through the whole car ride from the warehouse back to the Faction complex. Minimized his disgust and horror, keeping the tremors in his hands hidden. Vegas’s indifference had made his skin crawl and the underboss’s switch back to his normal offbeat personality had made Roman feel sick. Roman had been many things throughout his life, and very few of the good, but until that moment he had never been a killer. 

 

He found that the shooting itself was simultaneously crystal clear and unfathomably foggy. She had been a blonde, he could clearly picture it's state, disheveled and messy, down to the last hair, but not for the life of him could he picture the woman's face. Roman had figured that her face was the one thing he would never forget, but each time he played it through his head on the drive to the East’s complex her face changed. First it had been the face of a teacher he had, back in the days when had attended more days then he hadn’t. Then in was the girl his age who worked the counter at the local bakery. She had cursed like a sailor and could outdrink nearly all of the delinquent group he had spent most of his time with, and had died in a Grimm attack about a week before he had decided to leave town. Childhood friend, classmate, bartender, even random strangers on the street, and that was perhaps was the most jarring thing about it, he had sacrificed this woman in the name of self preservation and he didn’t even have the decency to remember her face right.

 

So out of it he was, slumped against the wall of his bathroom lungs struggling to draw breathe and to make sense of the act he had just committed, that he didn't even feel the pressure of a small hand forcing his head between his knees until he found himself staring at the bland linoleum of his floor. Managing to turn his head he found his green eyes locking with a pair of heterochromic ones. It took him a second to place them and he immediately stiffened. His whole body wanted to flee, to disappear, but he was to weak to even stand.

 

Neo’s only reaction despite no doubt seeing his panic, was to raise an eyebrow at him. She removed her hand from his neck and the other was spread and moving away and back towards her chest steadily, the action reminding him of how the music teacher at his school when he was little would keep time for the band.  _ 1,2  3,4  1,2  3,4  1,2  3,4inandthenout.  _ After a moment she straightened up and exited through the open door leaving him alone. Roman took a moment to fully get his breath back and compose himself. After splashing water on his face he stumbled on unsteady legs into the living room only to freeze upon entering.

 

Neo sat legs crossed on his kitchen bar, a mug of tea in hand and another across from her. Roman cautiously crossed the room and approached, sitting himself on one of his three stools that had come with the apartment he had been given when he joined up. She looked at him expectantly over the rim of her mug, with them like this the two were nearly the same eye height. Roman picked up the tea and sniffed it critically.

 

“Are you trying to poison me?”

 

She just rolled her eyes.

 

“That my friend, was not an answer.” He muttered, but took a sip anyway. The tea was surprisingly good, a little on the cool side, though Roman owed that more to the time it had sat out on the counter waiting for him to emerge rather than Neo’s skill as a _ , cook? Was it still called a cook if it was only drinks? Thinking of which, where did she get the tea? I don’t have tea _ . He wondered distractedly. Realizing his silence was a bit rude, and seeing as it was that she hasn’t poisoned him as far as he could tell, he figured he should say something.

 

“Thank you.”

 

She nodded.

 

It got awkwardly quiet again.

 

Roman shifted side to side.

 

Neo starred.

 

He tried again.

 

“We were never formally introduced, I’m Roman Torchwick.” He stuck out his hand to shake. His hand hung there for a moment before Neo made a move. Rather however, then return the gesture she place a small card in his hand. He glanced down at it and saw that it read:

 

**Neo** **politan**

**Professional Stabber of people**

**_“Being short just gives me a better angle to break your kneecaps.”_ **

 

He looked at her. She raised an eyebrow. Roman’s laughter filled the apartment and Neo smiled, after that the silence in the room was far from awkward.

 

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Neo let out a silent sigh as she left Roman’s room. Feeling the pack of business cards in her pocket she smiled. Cataline, a soldier under Zaffre had give them to her as a joking gift a year into her time with the East’s. The redhead had told her that because she didn’t know her birthday, she had chosen the day she had joined up as its substitute. While the cards were easily the strangest gift she had been given, not that she many to chose from, she was thankful for them purely for the expressions people gave when they read them.

 

She had gone up to Roman’s apartment as soon as she made it appear to Vegas that she was going to to her own place. She clearly remembered to aftermath of her first kill years before she had joined the East’s and had thought to herself that seeing as it had been her fault the teen had been forced to kill, she should probably make sure he was okay. Neo couldn’t help but think back. and wish that she had someone during the days following her first. 

  
She had stolen bread with the help of her semblance’s illusions, but as she had been inexperienced and untrained, her illusion had dropped before she made it all the way out the door. leading to the very angry shopkeeper chasing after her down the road of whatever backwater village she had been passing through. With the man quickly gaining on her she had turned a sharp corner along a ravine and thrown up an illusion that made it appear as if the road had kept going. Afterwards she had made the mistake of looking over the edge at the man’s body, and had found herself unable to keep anything down for days, which was not a good position for a starving orphan to find herself in. Eventually she had accepted it. She had been able to eat again and move forward in life sporting a new mantra for herself, _ “If it is necessary to survive, then it is justified.”  _ And survive she had. And, if she could help it, so would Roman Torchwick. She wasn’t known for having many friends, but she had liked the sound of his laughter. So while she wasn't known for having friends, she figured that he might not be a half bad place to start.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The sign Neo was using when she was with Roman in the bathroom is the sign for breathe.  
> Cataline is a shade of blue.
> 
> Soooo this chapter was primarily written between the hours of midnight and one so if you happen to find any mistakes I didn’t happen to catch in my last minute editing please let me know. Until next Sunday.  
> -Pree


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is both short and late. Apologies.

Vegas filed away the report detailing Neo’s most recent mission. It seemed that the boy, Roman and her made quite the team. While Roman technically was lower ranking because of his newness to the Faction than those two oversized goons that worked under her, it seemed she was treating him more as a partner then as a underling. Which Vegas supposed he should have seen coming as the teen was much closer to her age than most in the orginization.

 

The Torchwick kid had surprised him, which in it of itself was a surprise, with how resilient he was. Vegas had half expected for someone to complain of a smell coming from teens room in a few days or at the very least the boy to become far more withdrawn as most kids were atp to when they were pushed out on a ledge like Vegas had done to him. Instead the boy had appeared cracking jokes and sharing a light with the other associates and underlings in the rec room not even a day later, outwardly indifferent to his recent actions.

 

He had assigned him to Neo’s squad telling her that if she wanted to drag home strays then it was her job to look after them, and everything had gone back to normal. Neo’s squad which had always had an exceptional success rate only improved and the skirmishes with rival gangs in his sector decreased meaning the big man back in Vale was happy. Happy. Safe. Normal. And utterly boring. Reaching over to his stationary Vegas grinned as he began the letter.

 

“Time to to shake things up a bit.”

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

“Pssst, Roman. Roman. Hey Roma-” 

 

“If you don’t shut up right now, I swear to the gods I will kill you.”

“... Bu-”

 

“Redman…”

 

“I promise it’s quick.”

 

“What?”

 

“ Would a fly without wings be called a wal-”

 

Neo rolled her eyes as Roman tackled the younger boy with a frustrated yell, cutting of the seventh ridiculous question Redman had seen fit to badger him with in the last five minutes.

 

“It's a legitimate question!” Redman squealed as he struggled against the headlock Roman had put him in; his blond curls bouncing with the effort and his face almost as red as his numerous freckles.

 

The two continued to roll across the floor of the safe house they were holed up in after their latest job. One of the few adults in the squad, as historically adults didn't take well to being given orders by children, shared a bemused look with her over the two’s antics before walking over to break up the mock fight and remind both of them to keep their voices down.

 

Neo’s scroll buzzed to inform her that they had been cleared to head back to the complex. She whistled to get her squad mates attention and moved towards the door hearing Roman and Redman trip over each other in their hurry to exit the basement room. She moved to slip into the car waiting outside only for her scroll to buzz again, this time showing a text from an unknown number.

 

“Whats up?” Roman asked his brow furrowed as he took notice of the tense stance she had adopted.

 

_ “Go on ahead”  _ She signed distractedly. Seeing the confusion written on his face she figured he hadn't understood and began moving her hands to repeat herself as was necessary from time to time, only to be surprised when he put up a hand to stop her.

 

“No, no I caught what you said. I’m just confused about why.”

 

She paused for a moment to decide how to respond, “ _ I need to take care of something. Everythings fine.” _

 

“...if you're sure?” he responded.

 

She bent her fist at the wrist and bobbed it up and down.  _ “Yes” _

  
She watched as the car drove away with her squad and pulled her coat tight around her shoulders against the chill of the cold rain - _ I should really look into getting an umbrella for myself-  _ and headed back towards the city of Vale to answer the messages summons. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again sorry for the short chapter and the late update, some familiar faces should be making an appearance next chapter.  
> Also some alternatives for Redman's stupid question were; When sign makers go on strike, is anything written on their signs? If someone with multiple personalities threatens to kill himself, is it considered a hostage situation? Why is the meaning of life hard to find when you have a dictionary? and lastly If a hen-and-a-half could lay an egg-and-a-half in a day-and-a-half, how long would it take a monkey with a wooden leg to kick all the seeds out of a dill pickle?  
> \- Pree


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Vegas is shady, People drink, Roman likes bad movies.

Hei Xiong was a large man, standing almost seven feet tall there weren't many things he was afraid of. Sure maybe he held an irrational fear of chickens and small children, and in a few years time he would develop something he would call a “healthy respect” for a certain blonde brawler with a penchant for wreaking nightclubs, but Hei “Junior” Xiong was far from an easy man to spook. However, Junior relented that this was perhaps one of those moments where a  _ small  _ bit of fear was justifiable.

 

Junior glanced into the reflection of the glasses he was cleaning paying special attention to the familiar red head sitting at the bar behind him. Cataline DuFrane was quietly stewing as she nursed her third drink of the night. The Faction enforcer was something of a regular during the more subdued hours at Juniors club, but she had been missing from her usual spot at the bar for almost a month know. Junior assumed that she had been out of the kingdom on a job but knew better then to ask, and besides, if she had done anything impactful the information would reach him eventually.

 

The odd thing however, was the particularly foul mood the young woman seemed to be in. While Cataline’s usual natural was somewhat callous and cynical at best, her dry wit and mocking natural was all in good fun and her words rarely carried any weighted bite. But tonight, the girl seemed likely to remind any patron with the misfortune to cross her, exactly why she was seated at the right hand of Vale’s resident mafia executives. Junior had read more then enough reports on Cataline’s jobs in and out of the city to know it was hardly her pretty face that had won her the position she held.

 

Junior watched from his peripheral and saw her raise her hand. For a moment he thought she might be signalling for another drink, only for her to be joined a moment later by a little girl far too young to have any sort of business in this club. At this point Junior knew better than to question the odd sight, after all it would be beyond hypocritical from him to make a scene over the legality of their actions when he himself tended to work in the… greyer areas of the law.

Cataline reached into her trademark long brown coat and drew out what looked to be a letter and handed it off to her companion. - _ Who the hell actually hand writes letters anymore-  _ Junior thought as he moved down to serve another patron. Bartending was a nice change for him on the slower nights and it made eavesdropping much easier, a must for an information broker like himself. However it seemed Cataline and her companion were resolved to not speak a word to each other meaning hanging around their was a waste of his time, and put him at risk of missing important information elsewhere. And besides the waves of aggressiveness rolling off the redhead was a major warning sign he didn't intend to ignore.

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Cataline watched Junior as he moved his way down the bar clearly having given up trying to “accidentally” hear something.

“So?” She asked without turning to look at Neo, “What do you think?”

_ “He’s up to something. I don’t like this.” _

“Please, you think I do?” She took another drink, pausing a moment to feel the burn of the alcohol in her throat. “Not that it’s not good to see you, it is, but calling me and Mikado in out of the blue like this, it doesn’t feel right.”

_ “I agree.” _

“Do me a favor, I wasn’t suppose to tell anyone about my orde-”

Neo cut her off pantomiming locking her lips and throwing away the key.

“Thanks kid.” She tossed some Lien on the counter and hopped off her bar stool, coat swinging after her like a cape. “Be careful.” She said by way of parting. She raised a hand and her figure disappeared through the doorway and into the rainy night. It appeared she would just have to wait and see what it was that creep Vegas wanted with her and her partner.

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Neo looked over the copy of the transfer orders Cataline had gotten again when she got back to her apartment. They were fairly standard, holding all the necessary signatures and with the usual overly formal language that seemed more fitting for a novel or a TV drama then the real life words of the heads of a criminal organization. But… still this wasn’t right. Cataline and Mikado were the top enforcers for the main branch. Did anything, went anywhere, and always succeeded. It simply didn't make sense to transfer them under Vegas and the port branch of the Faction.

Her head shot up at the sound of a knock on her door. She glanced through the peephole on the door to see Roman out of his work clothes. She pulled back the deadbolt and let him in.

“I’m glad you're back, I was starting to get worried.” he said tossing the bag of stuff he was carrying on the table.

She shot him a disbelieving look.

“Hey! Contrary to popular belief I am capably of feeling more emotions than frustration, exasperation, disdain, and anger. And besides, it's not like you to take off like that.”

Neo raised an eyebrow.

“And, also I think I would have actually killed Redman if the kid asked me one more of those fucking questions.”

“ _ That’s more like it.” _

He waved her off. “Well, I just sat through probably the most boring and tiring debriefing of my life-”

_ “You’ve lived through seven.” _

“-SO I have come barring crappy movies and have finally managed to track down that tea brand you like. Which I would just like to inform you is really really hard to find because according to the cashier-”

Neo let the sound of the older boys rambling wash over her as she situated herself on the couch.  _ Yea, Vegas was up to something alright. But for right now, it wasn’t her concern. All she could do was be on guard. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mikado is a yellow shade


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this chapter is super late, I honestly just lost my motivation for writing this one for a while.

Roman could feel the tension in the office from the hallway and he found himself rechecking his scroll hoping that he had read the summons incorrectly. He steeled himself and slid into his confident persona before strolling into Vegas’s room like he hadn’t been loitering outside for the past five minutes.

 

“What’s up bo-” Roman greeting cut off as he entered the room and found not Vegas across from him, but an unknown woman.

 

“You must be the Torchwick I’ve been hearing about,” she said as she rounded the side of Vegas’s imposing desk with her hand extended towards him. “I’m Cataline, and as of now, you answer to me.”

 

“I what?” Roman replied affronted ignoring her hand till she dropped it. “Who are you?”

 

She raised an eyebrow. “I’m Cataline. I’m your new boss.” Roman nearly growled at the woman's sarcastic answer. “Doesn’t listen does he?.” She said to someone over his shoulder and he whipped around to see who she was addressing.

“Neo?”

 

_ “Relax Roman, she's a friend.” _

 

“A friend?” Roman asked with a scoff.

 

_ “Yes Roman, a friend.” _

 

Roman grumbled and leaned against the wall glaring at the strangers across the room. The woman leaned against the edge of Vegas’s desk with a bemused expression on her face. The ease she seemed to feel put Roman on edge, especially because he could tell it was only skin deep. The underlying tension he had felt from the hallway remained throughout the office. Torchwick took the moment of silence to observe both the woman claiming to be his new boss. Her red hair almost the same shade as his, fell to her waist in waves complimented by her pale skin and piercing blue eyes. Her posterior reminded him of Vegas, relaxed, nonchalant, trademark smirk that screamed that she was laughing at you.

 

“Where’s Vegas then?” he asked the woman, trying to keep his tone indifferent

 

“In Vale, the higher ups wanted a word with him.” She paused as she reached into one of the desk drawers and drew out a file. “A group of bandits have been making trouble for the village of Kami further south and as they pay a protection fee to us, it's our job to put an end to it. 

 

A heavy knock came at the door, and Cataline called for whoever it was on the other side to enter. Roman’s eyes widened as he took in the sight of the massive figure who opened the door. The man had dark tanned skin and long hair braided over his shoulder and a build that Roman was 90% sure guaranteed that the man could snap him in two if he wanted.

 

“Mikado, meet Roman. Roman meet Mikado.” Cataline said gesturing between the two. Mikado nodded in his direction and moved to stand silently next to Neo against the back wall of the office.

 

“As I was saying, Kami has been a recent hotspot for bandit activity…” Roman allowed the woman's voice to fade into the background as he carefully considered the change in circumstance that he found himself in. As much as he disliked Vegas’s bipolar disposition, at least he knew what to expect when dealing with him. Cataline was something new, an unknown factor that now controlled a major portion of his life. Neo trusted her, or at least Roman thought she did, which said something about her character. He wasn’t exactly what it said about her, but he knew that it was an important thing to take note of.

 

Mikado was a complete unknown, though if he had to wager he would put money on him being her partner. Cataline was the strategist, Mikado the muscle. Much like how Neo and him had gravitated together with their opposing personalities, he could see the two of them having been paired up in much the same way. His strong imposing silence for her cunning ambition.

“Roman,” he perked up when he heard Cataline address him directly, “You and Mikado will go into town directly, and scout it out for us. Neo and I will stick to outsiders until we have a proper idea of what we’re looking at.” both MIkado and Roman nodded in affirmation. 

 

“I’ll go tell my men then, I think redman would lo-” Roman was cut off

 

“No.”

 

“What?” 

 

“We won’t be taking any men on this mission, only us four will be going to Kami.” Roman furrowed his brow but didn't say anything. The fact that Cataline was openly separating him and Neo hadn’t escaped his notice, and now that none of his men were on the mission, there would be no one he trusted watching his back.

 

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Cataline watched as Torchwick left the room Neo following silently behind him like a shadow.

 

“He does  _ not  _ like me.” she muttered as the door latched behind him.

 

“Can you blame him?” Mikado responded in his familiar deep base tones.

 

“Hey! I’m a perfectly likable person.” Mikado raised an eye at that.

 

“It’s not like you've done anything to make him like you, you’ve only just met, and besides, first impressions were never your strong suit.” He replied

 

“True, thats why I paired him off with you. You’re definitely the nice one of the two of us, and it's important that we can rely on him.”

 

“You're not just talking about this mission are you?” Mikado said after a pause. “You know what the up tops are playing at, don’t you?”

 

“I have my suspicions.” 

 

“Is it bad?”

  
“No, not necessarily. It's just going to be different.” She paused. “The world's changing and everyone knows it, and it's time for the Faction to embrace the times.”


End file.
